Speaking With Hands
by poisen
Summary: Ryoma gets sick, the permanent side affects may cause him to give up tennis and everything he's strived for. It will change his life dramatically. R&R Disclaimer:Prince of tennis does not belong to me. WARNING there may be SLASH.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: i don't own prince of tennis

Revised(kinda)

Chapter 1

Ryoma had a headache. The constant throbbing put in a bad mood. This wasn't the first time he had a headache that day; the last one had long faded away as he was at tennis practice. He had been having strange headaches lately, due to stress of exams and pre-nationals match coming up. He had decided that they were all related to stress. Scowling, Ryoma moved his math book aside and headed to his bed. He had been studying for the math test his teacher was going to give them on Monday for practice.

Walking over to his bed, he flopped onto it and heaved a huge sigh. Closing his eyes, he proceeded to try to get ride of the head ache by sleeping it off. It took him about thirty seconds to realize that he wasn't going to get any sleep at all, but stubborn as he was, Ryoma kept his eyes closed, determined to force his body into deep oblivion.

_Tick, tick, tick, tick, _he could here every second passing by, annoyed he sat up slowly so as to not make the already horrible headache even worse. Grabbing his clock, he turned it around so that its back was facing him. And with one slow but threatening movement he removed the batteries in the clock. Then he quickly tossed them somewhere into his room. It was the weekend, and Ryoma wasn't going to need it the next morning. Laying his head back on his fluffy pillow, he once again tried to go back to sleep.

_Thump, thump, thump, thump _it seemed Ryoma was not destined to sleep his headache off. Someone was coming up the stairs, and even though he didn't know how, he had an inking that the person was headed right for his door. The sound of the door opening saddening proved him right, and for once he'd wished he wasn't.

"Hello, son!" The loud voice of his father sounded even louder because of his headache. Ryoma held in a sigh and decided to keep his eyes closed and pretend he was asleep. Maybe his father would give up and just go away.

When Ryoma didn't answer, Nanjiro walked into the room. There was a long silence in which he wished his father would leave and Nanjiro was trying to will Ryoma awake with his telepathy, which he didn't have. A loud sigh sounded through out the room, but Ryoma didn't make a move to show he was awake, he had evened out his breathing and since his father was concentrating on waking him up by his telepathy, he had almost forgotten his headache.

It was like they both knew what the other was trying to do, it ended up being a fight of wills. His to make his father go away, and his father's was to wake up his son.

**Nanjiro's P.O.V.**

I had come upstairs to see if Ryoma wanted to play tennis with me, and I hadn't expected to find him asleep. Well I guess I will just have to wake him up. It's a Friday, and I'm bored. Che, the stupid brat fell asleep on me, it's like he's old.

**End P.O.V**

Since Ryoma had his eyes closed he didn't notice the smirk slowly slither onto his father's face. He didn't notice that his father had come up with a plan, if he had he would have realize that his headache was going to be much, much worse than it was before.

ﻍ

Ryoma was annoyed. He hadn't gotten much sleep yesterday, and his father's stunt was just pissing him off more. Today was going to be a bad day, he just knew it. It seemed that even though Ryoma had gone out of his way to avoid his father, even pretending he was asleep just so he wouldn't be remained of the headache he had somehow managed to forget while he was preoccupied with something else.

That morning, when Ryoma woke up, he had looked around the room and discovered Karupin laying next to him in the blackest curled up into a small ball, as usual, he had thrown is alarm clock across the room because he hadn't been able to find the snooze button, as usual, and he had gotten out of bed, his eyes barely open, _as usual_. But the next thing was not usual an early morning occurrence.

He could remember very well what had happened that morning. As if his father's trick last night wasn't enough. Now that he thought about it, that trick too still had him pissed off. In his minds eye, he could already see the smirk on his father's face when he had woken up from his fake sleep, glaring at his incompetent father for the rude comment. Couldn't he see that he just wanted t sleep? That he wanted to be left alone?

He knew what his father had wanted when he came to his room. His father was so predictable at times like this. The fact that he wanted to play tennis with Ryoma, who had told the whole family that he was doing homework and would like to finish it first before it had any unnecessary interruptions. He had said all this while staring pointedly at his father; he should have known he would be ignored.

"Ryoma, it seems I have more stamina than you." His father had said with a loud sigh, Ryoma was listening but he was not going to ruin the illusion of his sleep, he would only be dragged into a more headache strengthening argument.

His knew, Ryoma concluded, it seemed he father had caught on after all. He knew that Ryoma was faking, and he knew that Ryoma knew. And that was why his next words sounded so sure of themselves.

"I guess you'll never beat me tennis now."

His voice was smug, and his face showed a triumph he didn't even bother to hide. Then it hit him, his face, he could see his face. Ryoma had opened his eyes and he was glaring into the ever annoying face of his father. He had been tricked. But he would get his revenge if it was the last thing he did. He father was going to watch his back, but the time to attack was when his guard was down. At least this would give him time to plan a trick that his father would remember for a long, long time. With a grin Ryoma continued his walk to the store; he hadn't had ponta for a whole week. Can you imagine that!

"Ochibi!", Suddenly Ryoma found himself being smothered to death in a hug by none other than the most hyper acrobat player on the teem.

"Eiji let him go his turning blue!" Oishi's voice commanded with a worried urgency, ever the mother of Seigaku even when they were not at school. It seemed his hope of going to get that ponta was slowly being destroyed.

"Sorry," Kikumaru immediately let o of the cat eyed boy. Ryoma took a deep breath, and listened to Oishi-sempai berate Kikumaru-sempai, turning to them his prepared to interrupt when he was beat to it by Kikumaru-sempai.

"Oi, ochibi, where are you going maybe we can come along too." Kikumaru-sempai's voice was as always happy. It seemed he always had a reason to smile, except for a few times he could remember.

"I'm going to the store," Ryoma's answer was as blunt as always.

"You can come if you want, I was just going to get some ponta then I'm going back home." Kikumaru laughed as a though passed into his head. 'Ochibi hasn't changed since we first met.' Even Oishi had a smile on his face.

"Okay then. I was just on my way to the store my self when I met Eiji." Oishi said. "I guess we'll go with you."

And with that settled they made their way to the store, listening to Kikumaru go on and on about how bored he was before he saw Oishi while he was wondering around. Both Oishi and Ryoma listened to him, Oishi smiling and answering occasionally, while Ryoma got lot in his own thoughts when they weren't paying attention to him, thinking about what to do with his father after as payback for the night before.

As they got closer to the store, Ryoma decided he would let the moment present itself first. Make his father slip something he wasn't supposed to, use it as black mail and still tell on him anyway… or at least something to that effect. He would have to think of man other ideas before deciding to discard his first one.

"Ryoma, we'll go get your stuff first then presided to mine, I don't have to get a lot so this will be quick." Oishi said. Ryoma snapped out of revive as soon as he heard his voice. Nodding, Ryoma presided to walk through the aisles, towards the one he knew held what he came for. On the way he passed by some Pringles and decided he would get some as well.

Ryoma had been saving up his money, mostly because he wasn't buying any ponta lately. He decided that he would get different flavors, as well as some snacks. This way he wouldn't have to come back for more when he finished.

Grabbing the potato chips, he continued on his way, half listening to Oishi and Kikumaru talk about what they were going to do that weekend.

They had reached the isle where the sodas were found, and Ryoma looked careful at the flavors of ponta. There were strawberry, grape, pineapple, lime, orange, and pear. Now Ryoma usually got the grape soda, mostly because of the security he felt when he was drinking something and knew the taste. But Ryoma was feeling a little spontaneous on the subject. He decided that he would get a can of all kids of flavor instead of just getting one. With this in mind, he grabbed the different kids of flavors, giving some to Oishi and Kikumaru when he couldn't hold any more.

Ryoma had ended up getting two cans of every flavor of ponta he could get his, and his senpai tachi, hands on. And with that, he announced that he was done and they proceeded to get Oishi-senpais stuff.

Ryoma was feeling happy, but he could feel another headache building up at the back of his head.

ﻍ

Once again, Ryoma found himself going to bed early. He had skipped dinner in favor of sleep. Besides, he had brought up a can of pineapple flavored ponta and he had his potato chips so he had assured himself that skipping dinner would not interfere in anything except gained weight.

The scene reminded him of that morning, when he had gotten the same type of headache, but he would save those thoughts for latter, now what he really wanted to do was sleep. But the insistent knocking on the door was preventing that. Up to now Ryoma had ignored it, but now he could feel the headache throb with each of the reverberation pounds delivered to his door. Ryoma got up with a sigh, it seemed he could not avoid it now.

Unlocking his door, Ryoma's face was marred with a deep frown. He pounds at his door now like a hammer on his head. Painful. Absolutely mind boggling painful.

With gritted teeth and a growing anger, Ryoma snapped the door open at the same time stepping aside least the imbecile's hand pounded into him for real. The ever annoying face of his father came into view.

"What do you want," Ryoma's voice was full of hostility. Of course whose wouldn't have when they had a headache and were just from sleeping and effectively getting rid of it. Ryoma's glare deepened when his father laughed.

He slammed the door shut, locked it, headed to his bed, and proceeded to ignore the pounding that had resumed at his door, and well as some added on shouting. He put a pillow over his head and was soon dead to the world, his fathers' pounding falling on deaf ears.


	2. Chapter 2

"_He screamed. He screamed. He screamed!_

_Blackout._

_Silence._

_Darkness._

_Montag cried out in silence and turned away._

_Silence." _Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury_._

**Chapter 2**

All Ryoma could see was red. He had his eye lids closed and he was standing on the roof. Ryoma had no idea what was happening but whenever it was it hurt. It even hurt while he was standing but not as much as when he was sitting.

He had not sit in any of his classes, and when he was asked to he snapped so viciously at the teacher that they all left him alone. The lunch bell rang, but he did not feel like going to class. Sighing, Ryoma leaned against the fence; eyes still closed, and started to think about how he was going to sleep when he got back. He was getting tired of standing.

Pushing off the fence, Ryoma leaned forward and prepared to get down on his stomach. The door to the roof open as he laid on the ground, but Ryoma ignored it. Propping his head on his chin with his head, Ryoma proceeded to close his eyes again, only this time in pain. That headache had come back with a vengeance.

"Ah, so this is where you are," the voice of one of his sempais said. It had come so suddenly, cutting into the pain like a knife, demanding the attention it had been denied earlier. Ryoma's first reaction was to give a smart remark, just like other times. But his headache had intensified, for reasons unknown.

Ryoma thought about opening one eye to glare at the intruder, but the thought left as soon as it came and Ryoma remained in his position. The sound of someone sitting down next to him told him that his sempai was not going to be deterred from finding out why he had missed practice and half of school.

Sighing, he decided that he had to speak. Opening one of his eyes a little so he could look at him, Ryoma spoke.

"What do you want?" Ah, Ryoma might have had a headache but that didn't mean that he would be out of character… much. He was still blunt, and that fact made Fuji Syuusuke chuckle quietly.

"Saa, Echizen, why did skip miss practice in the morning."

"Why do you care?"

"On top of that you're also skipping class," Fuji went on as if he hadn't heard him.

"You're missing class too, Fuji sempai." Ryoma pointed out. He was a little irritated that Fuji Sempai was only focusing on what he had done. The irritation also had to do with the fact that he was in pain, never would he talk back to Fuji in this way if it wasn't for that fact.

Apparently, Fuji also caught this; he knew that people tended to fear him. The fact that he was a rumored sadist might have something to with it. But Syuusuke didn't always like to see people in pain. Take right now for instance. The good thing was he could use it to his advantage. That fact made it okay for him.

"I have a pass Echizen, what's your excuse."

"I got tired of snapping viciously at the teachers." Ryoma replied with a frown. It was partly the truth, he hadn't wanted to sit down and his math teacher had touched him, intending on making him see the principle. But the wince Ryoma had shown upon contact made him let go.

Syuusuke was surprised to hear that.. He hadn't expected him to tell him that he was acting more bratty than normal. Sighing, he saw that Ryoma had closed up. The least he could do was stay until he was sure he was okay. The whole team had decided that someone should watch over him. He had been acting weirder than normal. And after Horio had shouted out his behavior, in class there was no way they weren't going to look after him.

Syuusuke reached out to touch Ryoma, only to get a shock as he jerked back from his hand. But before he had moved, Fuji found that his skin was hot. Looking closely, he saw that Ryoma was shivering.

"What wrong Ryo-chan," he said softly; barely noticing that he had referred to him by his first name and using that honorific.(-chan is usually used for lovers or really really close friends, usually girls.)

"Don't call me that. I didn't give you permission… Don't call me that…" Something was definitely wrong. He hand repeated him self twice, something he wouldn't do if there was no reason to. Frowning he knew he should wait until Ryoma went to sleep. The boy didn't want to be touched; he didn't want company at all.

ﻍ

The sound off someone pushing his door open, trying, and failing, to be silent woke Ryoma from his peaceful sleep. He tried to open his eyes only to find that he couldn't. They were ladened with sleep, too heavy to open, glued to each other. The only way, he decided, to open his eyes was a lot of free will. So Ryoma looked for this, and found he didn't really feel like it.

A cool cloth was settled onto his head, it felt like heaven and hell at the same time. He was cold and hot at the same time, and the cloth wasn't helping the cold. Opening his eyes to tell the person that, Ryoma found himself staring at this cousin, who wore a worried expression.

"Ryoma-san, you're awake." She said.

"One of your sempai came back with you, said you were feeling sick." She continued when he didn't answer. She waited for another second to give him time to say something.

"I've been having headaches," he said. He knew it was futile to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about. Whenever Nanako wanted some information from him, she somehow always got it.

She raised her eyebrow, the corners of her mouth turning down slightly. He was hiding something and she wasn't happy.

"What else?"

"I hurt all over, my neck is stiff whenever I look down, and my eyes hurt in bright light." Ryoma said in one breath. It felt good to tell someone what was ailing him.

"I feel hot and cold at the same time." He added as an afterthought.

Nanako looked thoughtful for a while, then she told him to go back to sleep. She had a lot of research to do before jumping to conclusions.

Tucking him in, Ryoma closed his eyes and let sleep over take him. He seemed to be sleeping a lot, even when he wasn't tired. He found that this wasn't exactly good, the next time he had a headache, he was sure he wouldn't be able to chase it away the normal way. He was going to have to resort to medicine soon. The way things were going he was going to be nocturnal.

ﻍ

Nanako had researched all she could, and she wasn't happy with the results. She stood in Ryoma's room, looking down at him with concern. All her research had pointed to a serious illness that could cause brain damage if not treated quickly.

She decided to talk to his parents tonight. Ryoma wasn't going to school tomorrow.

ﻍ

Echizen Nanjiro was in a sate of shock. He hadn't thought to check why his son was going to sleep earlier than any kids his age. In fact, he hadn't bothered to cheek his son's health at all.

He looked at his wife. She seemed to be in the same sate of shock that he was in, but he could tell from her eyes that there was depression in there, mixed with a little guilt. As a mother it must hurt her the most. She hadn't been paying attention to her son lately, but that was normal as every other time she was working a huge case.

Usually she always knew if he was sick. She was a working mother and she had to make sure before going to work every day to make up for it, but she was distracted. They had decided to take him to the hospital that very day. There was no knowing how long he was sick and that could be dangerous.

She had even put aside her work for this. They had to make sure he knew that both of his parents were there for him, even when they didn't show it.

ﻍ

Nanako had stepped out for a second to get some air. When Ryoma woke up they would make their way to the hospital and hope that he had flu of all things. She was afraid the doctors would prove her right.

Walking back into the house she set it upon herself to bring him some water. She wasn't sure he should eat before they went. Walking into his bedroom, she saw that he was awake. They would be leaving soon. After giving Ryoma his water, she left to tell his parents.

Soon they were all packed into her aunts' car, headed towards the hospital with a little twinge of fear stirring in the pits of their stomachs.

Ryoma's head still hurt. It felt even worse than before, but he chalked it up to the fact that the last time he was half asleep. The sleep didn't seem to cure the headache as it often did. Its only effect was that he did not feel the pain when he was unconscious. Even though he wasn't feeling well he hadn't liked missing school.

He never got why people like to miss school even when sick. Since being sick was the primary reason, all you did all day was feel groggy and achy and then to make maters worse you had to stay in bed with a lot of blankets on your already hot body. How he hated being sick. That really aware but not really feeling annoyed him to no end.

They were at the hospital now, and Ryoma was lost in thought.


	3. Chapter 3

"_And then, after a time of the men sitting around the fire, _

_their faces expressionless, an announcer on the dark screen said,_

"_The search is over, Montag is dead; a crime against society has been avenged._

_Darkness." _ Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury.

**Chapter 3**

_Beep, beep, beep. _The irritating sound invaded the darkness that covered Ryoma. He tried to crack open an eye to see where he was. It was then he realized that his whole body was heavy, but the need to see overcame him when he could no longer hear the beeping sound that had pulled him to reality.

When he finally managed to open one eye, he saw his mother taking to a doctor. They were close enough that he should have heard their whole conversation. Words drifted in and out of his ears, disfigured as they were they didn't sound like words at all. Ryoma was now fully awake. He was panicking a little, who wouldn't if they woke up and could not hear a thing.

He tried to sit up, but found he didn't have any strength. Not knowing what else to do to get their attention, he finally tried to speak.

"Mom, what's wrong with me?" Because Ryoma couldn't hear, he had no way of telling how loud he was talking and that made him a little self conscious.

Both grownups in the room heard him. To them, he voice was so soft that hadn't heard anything his words. His mother, upon seeing Ryoma awake was by his side in seconds.

She said something Ryoma couldn't hear, so he repeated his question. "I can't hear anything," he added at the end. He looked at his mother in panic. A shocked look crossed her face. She was close enough to hear what he had said that time.

The doctor had turned to them with a needle in his hands, and for a moment, his mothers hysterical crying and the doctors voice floated in so suddenly like someone had turned up the volume.

"No! This can't be. Why is this happening to him?"

"Echizen – san, I'm going to inject him so he can get some rest."

His mother's hysterics carried on until darkness came and took him away from the land of the living.

ﻍ

Ryoma was home now. His life was never going to be the same. While in the hospital they had explained to him what had happened. They had to use paper and a pen, but he was told everything. This didn't make him happy; in fact, it made him very mad and sad and depressed at the same time. He had been in a coma for ten days, that was why only his mother had been there at the time. After being discharged from the hospital, some of his sempai had come to see him. He, of course, denied them all access to his person, and locked himself in his room when he wanted to be left alone.

There was no alone now in his world. His parents and Nanako watched him closely and were always there. For a while this had been endearing to Ryoma. But after a while he had started to get irritated thus locking himself away where they couldn't reach him.

His parents were trying to look for a cure for his hearing; they had scheduled a meeting with an otologist. They planned to get him a hearing aid, after being told it was the only thing that might help. Cases like his weren't very normal after all.

Two days later they had left him with Nanako hey date of the appointment had come. Ryoma hadn't gone to school since he came home from the hospital. He was sitting in front of the TV with the volume up all the way so he could here, but it hurt Nanako's ears and she turned I down again. He didn't mind much, even with the volume up he could barely hear. Soon he gave up on watching TV and decided to read some of his school books.

He went up the stairs one at a time until he reached his room. But as he sat down at his desk, he noticed the paper the doctor had used to describe everything to him was sitting on top of his school books, and a lot of unwanted feelings came with it. The memory was still fresh in his mind, just thinking about it brought on the same numb feeling he had then too.

ﻍ

**Time change.**

He was still at the hospital, just woken up after his mother had been crying over him. His father and Nanako were there this time, and so was the doctor from last time, and another one he didn't know. There was a pile of notebook paper on a tray next to his bed. His mother picked one up and began to write.

'Ryoma, these two doctors will explain everything. Please listen before saying anything.' He frowned a little when he read that, but nodded because everyone was waiting for him to before they continued.

'Hello there young man, my name is doctor Yamamoto, and this is doctor Inoue. We're here to explain your condition.'

The doctor waited until Ryoma finished reading before continuing. Smiles still planted on both of their faces. Ryoma put the paper down and waited for them to write more.

'We're sorry to tell you but you were diagnosed by meningitis.' Upon seeing Ryoma's blank look, he doctor continued. 'Meningitis is an infection of the lining and the fluid that cover the outside of the brain and spinal cord. The infection can spread into the brain tissue and cause brain damage. But luckily your parents and cousin caught it in time.' Ryoma's eyes opened with horror at the possibility of brain damage.

The doctor continued with his explanation. 'We have discovered that the cause of it was the bacteria Pneumococcus, it is mostly common in infants and children. For now, since we have caught it early, we're treating it with IV antibiotics. Do you have any questions so far?' After he read this, a numb feeling came over him. He shook his head, and looked at his family once again. That was the first time he noticed that his mother hadn't looked at him since he had woken up. But he couldn't bring himself to feel anything.

Since he had no questions, the two doctors began talking to his parents. He looked on silently, watching as they occasionally shook their heads when a question was asked. Sudden sound invaded the cocoon silence had wrapped him in, but it was very low, like the volume of TV turned down so low that only an occasional louder sound could be heard.

He looked at their lips as they talked, and for a second could almost make out what they were saying. After a while, they wrote down their goodbyes, they couldn't stay with him all day.

**Time change.**

ﻍ

Ryoma was let out of the hospital after two more days. He had to catch up on his home work or he might have to repeat. Nothing seemed normal anymore. His parents had decided to do everything they could to make him hear again. But they had stopped paying attention to every other thing. They acted as if this had happened to them. Ryoma wasn't allowed to go outside. He had stopped talking and he got tired easily.

He had done more sleeping than he could ever remember, ever though he loved sleeping. There was just so much of sleep someone could get. He now spent his time studying up on all his missed classes, but he had already caught up and then some. Ryuzaki Sakuno came over every day with more work to do, and when Momo came by the house in the morning, he took the work to his class.

Ryoma had thought about sneaking out once or twice, but everyone seemed to watch his entire moves like he was prey. He had finally decided to wait a little while before going out.

ﻍ

The regulars of Seigaku tennis club were gathered in the changing room. All of them spouted worried looks, it had be almost a month since Ryoma had come to school. They had tried to get an update every day from Momo, but he had never seen him whenever he went by. Nanako always told him that he was doing fine, but he had wanted to see and confirm for himself. Unfortunately, in the mornings Ryoma was always asleep. So they had nothing to go by except Nanako's word.

"Maybe one of us should go by this weekend. In the afternoon Echizen should be awake." Oishi said in his concerned voice.

"I want to go; Ochibi will need some cheering up!" Kikumaru was eager to see him, he couldn't glomp the other players, they were all too tall.

"Maybe I should go," Fuji said, and no one argued because well he was Fuji.

"If anyone should go, I think it's someone he trusts, someone who's serious and has more chance of not saying the wrong thing…" At this everyone looked at Tezuka. He looked back at them with his stone stare and didn't say anything.

"Good, it's settled then! Tezuka shall go and find out what been going on with Echizen." And with that every pilled out of the room before more could be said.

* * *

Sorry it took me so long to update, I had a bad case of writers' bloke. But there you have it chapter 3 and you know what Ryoma's is sick with. I'm not sure if I'm going to put more on meningitis but if you want to learn more you can either ask me for it or find it yourselves, it was pretty hard to find this exact case of it though, had to search every type before I wrote this chapter. Anyway, please review, your thoughts on this keep me updating and happy, plus I'll stay on schedule and do it once a week, it's in your hands now...


	4. Chapter 4

_" As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through_

_the window - Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to _

_attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken_

_pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the_

_bed-clothes: still it wailed, 'Let me in!' and maintained its tenacious_

_gripe, almost maddening me with fear. " _Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

**Chapter 4**

_Ding Dong. Silence._

Tezuka had left early in the afternoon that Saturday so he could talk to Ryoma. The regulars had instructed Sakuno to give his school work to him as an plausible excuse. He had decided that before he went over to Echizen's house he might as well get some other things done, Ryoma might've still been asleep in the morning.

So he had done a couple of chores, meet up with Fuji to play a little tennis and read a little before he went over. He waited patiently for the door to open. Two minuets later when no one had come to the door, he decided to ring the bell once again, there was only so much patience a person could feel.

_Ding Dong. Ding Dong. Silence._

After a couple of seconds scrambling feet could be heard coming to the door. It opened revealing a girl with disheveled hair.

"Ah, you must be one of Ryoma-san sempai. Well hello come on in."

"I've brought Echizen's homework with me, may I see him."

"I have to check to see if he is okay, he sleep schedule is a little off."

And with that Nanako went to check on Ryoma, living Tezukato look around the room a little. Five minuets latter, Nanako came down the stairs.

"Ryoma-san is awake, you can go see him now. It's the first door to the right."

"thank you, Echizen-san."

Tezuka made his way up the stairs, unconsciously counting the as he went. He got to the lading, and walked to Ryoma's bedroom door. It was closed. He knocked on it and waited for an answer.

"Come In." Ryoma's voice was quiet and a little tired. He turned the door knob and pushed against the door, taking note of the room. His eyes came upon the bed and Ryoma's form tangled up in the blankets, hair askew and looking ruffled. There was a clear look of surprise on his face, he was expecting someone to come with his school work, but it wasn't Tezuka.

"Buchou. What are you doing here?" the surprise was evident in his voice too.

"I came to give you your homework." There was a brief silence after that. Then in a voice even lower than the one he was using before he asked him to repeat and talk slowly.

"Um, could you repeat that… slowly, I didn't catch what you said."

"I said," Tezukasaid it nice and slow "I came to give you your homework."

"But why you?" Ryoma was even more surprised. As if realizing what he just said, Ryoma struggled to rephrase his question.

"Why are you of all people… I mean… shouldn't Ryuuzaki,… no, I guess I just didn't expect you." he finally settled on that.

Tezuka had noticed that it was a little uncharacteristic of Ryoma to be saying these things, but he just figured that if he had lost his hearing, his sense of direction and most of his plans for the future, he would be a little out of character too.

"so how have you been doing lately," Tezuka asked. He had decided to just get to the point.

"I'm fine, a little slow, and my sense of direction is slightly off but I'm fine." After that a uncomfortable silence occupied the space between them Tezuka had done what he was sent for but he wasn't sure to pry more on to just go. Seeing that Ryoma still looked tired, he decided to take his leave.

"Well… I guess I'll be going now." He walked over to the desk in the room and put Ryoma's assignments down.

"yeah, I'll see you later."

Ryoma watched as Tezukabacked out of his room and closed his door. And with a sigh he tried to go back to sleep. A Few hours later Nanako knocked on his door. He had been dozing of and the sound was too soft for him o hear. She opened the door to cheek on him and noticed he hadn't moved from his position when she had first came in to check to see if he was awake. His eyes were closed and so Nanako thought he was sleeping.

Walking into the room silently, she stood next to the bed and looked down on him. She stood there for a few minuets before leaving, knowing that if she moved him he would wake. Ryoma was now more tuned in to movements since he lost his hearing. He had begun to read lips too, but most of the time his family would have to write down anything they wanted to say on paper.

The occasional noises that he heard where usually not clear, but he was learning. It had been hard on his family as well. After Ryoma's mother and Father came home from the ear doctor, they had told them that the next one was when they would choose which hearing aid Ryomaneeded. Hearing aid were really expensive, but his mother had wanted one and his father couldn't refuse either. It might be the only chance he might have at hearing again.

Nanakohad to live with loud noises whenever Ryoma was awake. He turned even up everything, loud noises were easier to to hear. they didn't allow him to turn the TV all the way up thou, it was too much noise for the neighbors and them. He could not listen to music, which was hell in is opinion, so even he was waiting for the hearing aid.

ﻍ

"Echizen-kun, how are you dong today?" The doctors cheery expression kinda pissed Ryoma off. They were in the ear doctors office for the appointment, and even though Ryomaknew exactly what the doctor had said he pretended not. He continued to look at him with a blank look, not answering the question. The doctors smile faltered a little but it didn't fall all the way. he turned away from him for a moment and reached for a pad and a pen on his desk. turning back, he hastily scribbled the question again. In the middle of it, Ryoma decided to answer.

"I not okay, you wouldn't be either if you just lost your hearing." The doctor looked up, a little shocked, and stared at Ryoma for a while.

"Yes well, I suppose your right." He looked away for a moment again, and stared talking.

"Well we should get on. can you answer a few questions for me?"

this time Ryoma hadn't heard what he said because the doctor had turned away from him.

"Excuse me, I can't understand you if your not looking at me."

ﻍ

"So how did it go?" Ryoma was starting to get annoyed again, so many questions.

"The dotor was an idiot."

"Ryoma-san, you should say that, he is the one who is going to giveyou back your hearing, and it's not good to bad mouth people especially behind their back."

Ryoma stared at her for a moment then he looked away, the sentence had been way too long for him to understand, so he decided to answer the part that he had.

"It wasn't behind his back," he muttered. As his parents and Nanako looked behind him, they saw the doctor standing within hearing distance. He looked sleepish, but not offended. Ryoma'sfamily rushed to apologize for his mouth, but the doctor waved the words away.

"Don't worry about it, a lot of the kids his age that have come in here feel the same way about me as he does, it's nothing new. Now for his hearing aid. Do you wish to talk in private?"

Ryoma wasn't following the conversation, he had stopped trying to figure out what they where saying a long time ago, now he was just sitting in his chair trying to remember the tune to the song 'I'm not okay' by My Chemical Romance. he was having a hard time doing so.

ﻍ

"Echizen-san," the doctor began, addressing Nanjiro, "I understand that all of you want Ryoma to hear, however, the situation he is in cannot be easily fixed by a hearing aid." Seeing the look of dismay on the their faces, he hastily continued.

"While the hearing aid won't help much, there is a chance that he still will be able to hear with it." Their expressions settled back to hope, so he continued to the part with might be slightly bothersome.

"I hope you also understand that a hearing aid is expensive. Most of the parents who come for one can't afford it, it might me a life in dept for them. I do believe that if you were to go to America, you would find more opportunities. and might I also suggest therapy for your son. Children his age don't usually handle this kind of trauma well."

Ryoma's parents sat still listening for what they should do. This wasn't usually what Nanjiro would be doing. His laid back character was being replaced by someone more serious. He felt it would be better this time to act this way, these matters were about his son after all. Rinko was more worried than she had been before. The fact that she didn't notice her son was sick had been nagging at her since the begging of his comma. She blamed herself for his hearing loss, and she was even considering quiting her job.

Nanjirohad asked her to wait, they still didn't know the situation withthe hearing aid, and he wanted to know everything before rash decisions were made. She was now glad he had talked her out of it, if the hearing aid was going to be as expensive as the doctor had said, then they were going to have to keep their jobs. It wasn't the fact that the Echizens were poor, it was the fact that the treatments he would have to go through would end up taking all of their savings and then they would be poor.

ﻍ

**That Night**

"Do you think we should take the doctors suggestion and move? If it is good for Ryoma then i think we should." Rinko said.

"I don't think we should. New environments might not do him good, he needs to be around people he is comfortable with."

An angry expression comes onto Rinkos face. She feels as if she is inadequate, like she isn't doing enough for her son, and this makes her angry. Feeling the need to take it out on someone, she starts screaming at Nanjiro. Her face is red, tears are streaming down her face, and her small fists pound on Nanjiros chest. And, not knowing what to do, Nanjiro shuts back. The need to keep Ryoma safe and normal is so overwhelming that they forget that other people are in the house, that, even though their son is deaf, he can still hear loud noises. Words were thrown, feelings were hurt, special bonds were broken, all things fall apart.

**Outside The Bedroom**

Ryoma had come to investigate, the sound of his parents voices had infiltrated the quite domain that was now his world. Usually this would not be unusual, but because he knows only loud sounds can be heard, he figures they must be fighting. He remembers that they haven't fought in so long, his parents have always gotten along very well, and like a curious cat, he sits outside his parents bedroom door, and soon he figures that the fight was about him.

So much guilt.

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I don't like writting these every chapter, but i have to warn that it might be a while before the fifth chapter is up. My computers hard drive got exchanged and i lost the 4th one, s this is a rewrite. I tried to make it as good as the first, but i'mnot sure if i did. I actually had both the 5th and the 4th prewritten, but i have to rewrite the 5th too. sorry for the long wait, i'm trying to get into the habbit of updating after ten reviews, but first i do have to write the 5thone. well now you know so, Please, don't hold your breath, yo might die and then i'd be so sad :


	5. Chapter 5

'_I am heaven sent, don't you dare forget_

_I am all you ever wanted what all the other boys all promised_

_Sorry I told I just need you to know' – "I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't" Brand New_

غ

Life at home wasn't going as well as it should have. Sure the youngest of the family was deathly sick, but it seemed things were just getting worse with no light at the end of the tunnel. After listening in on the fight his parents had had the night they had come home from the ear doctor, things had been awkward and stiff.

Nanjiro and Rinko barely talked to each other anymore Nanako avoided being in the same room as them and Ryoma, well except for being a little irritable than usual nothing had changed for him.

He was still overwhelmed by everything that had happened within the last couple of weeks. But staying home every day was starting to bore him.

"Hey, Oyaji, I want to go back to school." Nanjiro winced, the hot coffee he was about to drink had just spilt all over his thighs. Ryoma had spoken in a loud voice and it had surprised him.

"Um… I don't think that's a good idea…" There was a brief silence, filled only by the sound of cloth rubbing on cloth as Nanjiro cleaned himself up.

Ryoma was still deciding how to deal with the straight out rejection. "I'm going."

"… Ask your mother first." Since he lost his hearing, everyone around him had been really cautious. Nothing was the same as it was before, and Ryoma hated it. He hated that his dad was going easy on him, that his mother barely touched him anymore, that Nanako had stopped talking to him like she did before, now she only talked when something was necessary.

Ryoma had thought that if he got away from home and went to school like all the other kids, then things would be back to normal. Leaving the house was something he was looking forward to, and he was going to leave, his mind was set.

غ

Convincing his mom to let him go back to school was one of the hardest things Ryoma had experienced when dealing with his parents. Rinko had developed a suffocating over protectiveness over him that had decided to show its head when it wasn't convenient. He could remember every single second of that fight…

Flashback

"Okaasan-"

"No." Ryoma didn't know what to say, this was really unexpected

"… do you even know what I was about to say?"

"Yes, and the answer is no." His mom was really set in this; it was going to take some time

"That's really unfair you know, you didn't even give me a chan-"

"Ryoma, I understand where you are coming form but going back to school is out of the question. It's still too dangerous."

By now Ryoma was a little pissed because he was cut off. He knew that if he lost his cool, then the chance to change her mind would be lost for ever. So at this point Ryoma only had one option. 'I guess I have to play that card.'

Ryoma's eyes started to water. He let his lip quiver a little and looked up at his mother through his eye lashes.

"Okaasan, you're being mean." He could already see the effects of his sad face on his mother; she was starting to panic a little.

"Ryoma, don't cry… um… oh, I know, how about we get a teacher here to home school you?" She tried. That wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, getting home school wouldn't do anything for him. He would still be stuck at home, and he was trying to get away from it.

Ryoma face got sadder.

"You don't trust me anymore do you" his voice was quite, the effect was perfect for what he was trying to do.

"No! That's not why- I mean I do trust you I just don't trust everyone else to take care of you like they should."

"Oh so now I have bad friends!" The tears in his eyes were about to fall. Rinko was now visibly panicking. Ryoma had never cried before after turning three, and because of that she didn't know what to do to comfort him. She could only sum it up to another effect of his lost hearing.

"O- Okay! You can go to school. You can start tomorrow, that's good since it will be Monday." She finally gave in. It was the only way she knew to deal with this new Ryoma. As soon as she had give her permission, the tears in Ryoma's eyes cleared up. He made sure to do it slowly so she wouldn't find out that it was all a trick.

Sniffle a few times for good effect, he thanked his mother and went back to his room, smirking deviously as soon as his face was turned from her. Inside his head, Ryoma was chuckling, filing the new technique he knew he would have to use again to get what he wanted or needed.

غ

Monday was here and Ryoma was already ready for school. He wouldn't be up this early normally but walking to school wasn't an option at the moment. His mom was going to drive him to school, and then at the same she had decided to go back to work. Worrying about Ryoma while he was at school wasn't part of her plans, so she was going to throw herself into her work while he was at school at do the worrying when he wasn't.

Ryoma was downstairs in the kitchen waiting for breakfast. It was bizarre to him because he had never been up this early. His mom was just starting breakfast and Nanako was running around the house, most likely avoiding him as she had taken to doing. His father was still asleep, though he was usually awake before him.

Rinko was making a Japanese breakfast; if she had done anything else then Ryoma would have complained loudly. That was one of the things that Ryoma liked about waking up early, he could monitor the cooking and make sure it was what he wanted to eat. The days when he would wake up to a western breakfast, his mother already gone and Nanako apologetic about it were over.

"So Ryoma, are you going to join another club? I don't think Tennis is an option at the moment, but I'm assuming that you will join another club. I think you should try music club, you know, get out your old cello and get back to practicing. Or maybe something calming like art, you know, painting or something like that."

"I don't know." Ryoma had only caught a part of Rinko's mumble so he didn't know how to answer her. When she started up again he decided to ignore her. She was talking too low and when he did catch something it wasn't making any sense.

Instead Ryoma turned to the book in his lap. He had been learning a little bit of sign language just incase, so far the language was rather cool. The signs weren't always easy to read but he could always look them up later on his laptop.

The sound of Rinko putting a plate right in front of him reached his ears. It was the first sound he had heard clearly since he woke up. He look up at his mother to see her cringing a little and guessed that she had put the plate down a little too hard.

"Is something wrong?" Ryoma asked. As far as he knew it was the first time she had ever done that, so something had to be wrong.

"No… nothing." The silence afterwards was more than a little awkward. Ryoma picked up his chop sticks and began to eat just to get away from it.

غ

Students were crawling everywhere, like worker ants at the peak of summer. A lot of loud voices reached Ryoma, he stepped back a little as a small girl ran past him with others on her trail. The sound of a ball bouncing temporarily reached his ears. He turned his head to catch a boy dribbling a basketball, showing off to his friends. He had never noticed how wild school was.

Feeling more than a little nervous, he walked slowly towards the school building, towards the office and towards everyone he knew. He hadn't told his friends or his senpai that he was going back to school; he wished they wouldn't notice he was there to begin with.

A boy shoved into him from behind. He couldn't hear anything as the boy put his hands up and said something. Ryoma would have taken it as an apology if the boy hadn't taken a long time to say what he had to say, he gave the boy a blank stare and decided to ignore everything.

Carrying on the trek towards the office was slow going. It seemed to take forever, and a glance at his watch told him he was likely to be late. He hoped there wasn't another incident in which he would have to talk back to someone.

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sorry about how short this was, i originally planned to post this earlier, but the person assigned to be my beta hadn't edited it, she still hasn;t i just got tired of making you wait. I waited a couple of months and still nothing, oh well, your feedback helps make this story awesome.

someone told me i was putting too much of Ryomas name into the story, so i went back and edited myself, as much as i could. tanks ppl, and as allways, 10 reviews and next chapter will be up


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Fates:** From the Roman, Fatae, were three goddesses known to the Greeks as the Moerae. Their origins are uncertain, although some call them daughters of the night. It is clear, however, that at a certain period they ceased to be concerned with death and became instead those powers which decided what must happen to individuals. The Greeks knew them as **Clotho** ("the spinner"), **Lachesis** ("the apportioner") and **Atropos** ("the inevitable"). A late idea was that the fates spun a length of yarn which represented the allotted span for each mortal._

_Although Zeus was the chief Greek god, he was still subject to the decisions of the Fates, and thus the executor of destiny rather than its source. Hence the great importance to both gods and human oracles which indicated the inevitable drift of events. In mythology, however, the Fates played little direct part._

**Chapter 6**

Ryoma had only been in the principal's office once, when he was enrolling, and as far as he could tell, there had been no change since then. The office still had that air which made someone fill like they were walking into a trap. The interior wasn't anything impressive, plain curtain, plain wall paper, plain couches, plain table. It was incredibly plain.

Looking around didn't take him a long time, maybe a few seconds, there wasn't much to see. Ryoma walked forward and sat in the closest chair to the door. He waited a little while before movement to his left made him start.

"…there…prin… for?" that was all he could here from the strange man who had popped out from nowhere. He hadn't noticed him sitting on the long sofa. The man said something again, this time Ryoma didn't catch it at all. After staring at him for a second, he began to speak, his voice purposely low with a few pauses in between too. Speaking loudly was embarrassing, since he didn't even know how his voice sounded like after losing his hearing.

"I was in the hospital for a while… and now I'm back." Ryoma contemplated telling the man everything that had happened to him, but all his previous ordeals had left him a little vulnerable and more than a tiny bit… different from what anyone who knew him would expect him to act. He wasn't ready to admit out loud, even if he couldn't hear himself, everything he had gone through since his absence from school.

The principal was wearing a smile now, filled with a little pity and familiarity. He said something again, too low for Ryoma to hear. When the blank look finally registered to the man, he moved towards his desk and took out a sheet of paper and a pen.

It took him a minute to write everything down, and another to think of anything he might have missed before he showed Ryoma the pad. His handwriting was horrid; Ryoma could barely make out what was written on it, he took a moment to look at the man like he was a crazy fool, in which he got a sheepish look back in reply, before he tried to read the note.

It said: 'You don't have to explain anything; your mother called this morning and told me about your situation.'

Ryoma contemplated writing his note down before he realized it would be dumb if he did since he could already talk, he just couldn't hear.

"Is my schedule still the same?"

'Yes, I believe there has been no change to it. All your teachers have been notified of your current situation as well.'

'_Great' _Ryoma thought. _'Now I have to deal with their shit as well.'_

Out loud he added to the principal, "thank you for letting me come back is there anything else we need to talk about?" He was eager to get out of the room, the only thing he wanted at that moment was normalcy, and that seemed to be taken away from him the moment he thought he had reached it.

'No that would be it.' The man looked at his wrist watch for a moment and wrote something else. 'You better make your way to class, there's only five minutes before it starts, in case you late take this as a pass.'

Ryoma wondered for a brief moment if the principal wanted him to take half of their conversation to the teacher as a pass, and had a brief moment of anxiety until he saw him write something on a separate piece of paper. Relief flooding into him, he would have rather been late and in trouble than give half of their conversation to a teacher. As he took the pass, he also made sure to grab the paper with the principal's part of the conversation, and on his way out, stuffed it quickly into his pocket just for safety.

غ

School had been horrible and draining. He did arrive late for his class, and the walk to the music room had been a little tiring than usual. It seemed like he had lost almost all of his strength he had built during tennis.

Ryoma had also spent most of his time trying to avoid his loud mouthed classmates and the tennis team. He had only just barely succeeded his escape from Syuusuke because he was right next to the principal office when he was spotted. Ryuusaki had wanted him to meet all of the others, but he had blown her off too by pretending he didn't know who she was, which in turn caused her to faint, there by allowing him to get lost while her loudmouthed friend with the ugly hair tried to wake her up.

The hardest ones to run from had been Katsuo, Horio, and Kachiro. Ryoma expected Horio to be the one who screamed his presence to the rest of the world, if he hadn't been at school that day, or if he could learn to keep his mouth shut, then maybe the day would have gone smoother.

Just replaying the day again made him more tired. He could still remember the worst class he had gone to, gym. He could still remember how red his face was as the other kids passed him while running track, the way the teacher finally called him in when he was the last one on the field, the way the others stared at him with pity, judging him even though they didn't have the right. Just recalling that part of the day filled him with anger and embarrassment, and that was enough for him to know that he would never participate in gym again until he was up to his previous standards.

The only question that remained was how to skip that class. If he brought a note the next day, people would know he was embarrassed about his performance in the class, so that idea was out, since he couldn't think of anything worse than people actually knowing he was embarrassed. He could go talk to the principal for an alternate class or something to get out of the class. That was the only idea that sounded remotely possible. With nothing else popping up, Ryoma decided that before school started the next day, he would talk to the principal.

The thought of talking to him rolled in him mind for a couple of hours until he was feeling nervous and not to mention mentally and physically tired. But not feeling like going to bed at the moment, Ryoma got up and walked out of his room with intentions of finding something to do. He soon found himself downstairs by the door, with no real memory of how he had gotten there, with one look around to see who was near by, Ryoma put on his shoes and prepared to leave the house. After a brief contemplation of weather he should leave a note or note, he finally decided against it and left. Checking on his way out for his phone and wallet.

He walked just like he had when he was at home looking for something to do. Slowly and in a daze, thinking about everything and nothing at all. He walked not even realizing where he was going, or caring for that matter. As he walked, he was barely aware of the sounds of the city, he was barely aware when those sounds faded away a little. Soon, he found himself at a bus stop. This is when he began paying attention.

Looking around, Ryoma wasn't sure if he should continue going to where ever it was his body wanted to take him, but he was sure he didn't want to return home at the moment. Taking out his phone, he texted Nanako, telling her not to worry, that he went out and would be back in a while, however long that maybe, and turned off his phone afterwards. With that, he decided to get onto the bus when it came. All that was left was to wait, it was only a 30 minute interval and he wasn't in a hurry.

Sitting down on the bench, he took the time to fully look around him, to study everything he could. To his left, he noticed a teenage girl, who looked about 16 or 17. She had a little kid with her and Ryoma guessed it was most likely her brother. He watched the sister and brother play a game on the way to somewhere; they probably knew where they were going though, unlike him. He watch the sister crouch down and cover her eyes, she waited until her brother took the bait and came close enough for her to touch him. Then she proceeded to uncover her face, scream in a funny scary voice witch made the kid laugh and shriek with anticipation and fear. Then he watch as the kid ran away as fast as he could from his sister as she chased him.

After a few seconds when she let him get away, she made a noise to attract his attention. Then she proceeded to crouch down again, with her hands covering her eyes, only this time Ryoma could see she left large spaces in between in order to see him approach. And the kid did approach when the sister didn't get up and chase him again. Ryoma watch them repeat this game until they were gone from his sight. Then he sat and wondered.

He wondered what made the kid come back to the trap his sister had obviously laid out for him; he wondered why the sister would even repeat the process over and over, why she would let the kid win. He wondered what she got out of the game other than hurting knees and breathlessness. He wondered what the kid thought would change each time they repeated the process. He wondered why he was watching them, and what was taking the bus so long. He wondered again, where he was going, and what he was going to do when he got there, and weather his parents would be mad when he got back home.

Then he wondered why everything that had happened to him. He wondered why his parents where breaking apart because of him. He wondered what Nanako thought of the whole situation. He wondered if he'd be able to play tennis again and weather he would be able to face his old friends. He wondered about a lot of things while sitting on that bench waiting for the bus to come. He wondered but he didn't have any answers to answer all those questions. He didn't have any strength left to think about the answers, he didn't want to think about them. He didn't want to think about anything!

The bus came, and he stopped wondering for the moment. He concentrated on the movements his legs were making. He felt detached from the world, and from his body. He felt like his mind was just floating in a blissful place that was neither here nor there, and for the first time in a while, he felt a sort of freedom. The world was a cruel place, he had heard that a lot. But it had become cruel to him when he had gotten sick, then he knew for sure that those words weren't just said as an excuse for something misfortune that was brought upon oneself.

But he couldn't help but think that maybe he had brought it upon himself. He was sure there were way he could have prevented himself from getting sick in the first place, but it had already happened, and as much as he wished it, there was no going back, he did not feel like he was not in control of his own fate.

Ryona wasn't aware of the stops the bus made, he wasn't even aware of how long e had been on the bus, but soon he felt the urge to get off, and that's exactly what he did. He looked around for a little, but nothing was really standing out to him. He wasn't sure where he was, or how far from home he was, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care.

He began walking again, this time keeping track of where his legs were going instead of losing himself in thought. He took a left turn, and after a while another right, then another right. After walking straight for a while, he came to a complete standstill. He didn't know where he was, he didn't even care, but it was quite and there was little to no population in the place. He was standing across from a convenient store, and realized he was hungry and thirsty after all his walking and thinking. How convenient that he should stop right in front of this store.

Walking in, he listened to the small chime of bells that announced his arrival as the door opened. Looking around for the drink section, he picked up some chocolate and strawberry poky on his way to the back. Upon searching for his favorite drink, and finding it, he found something else. Right next to the grape Ponta was a drink he hadn't had in a long time. He had forgotten about it altogether after he moved form the U.S. and felt his hand gravitating towards it seemingly without his control.

Cherry Plum soda, he hadn't had in a while, didn't even remember what it tasted like, Ryoma only knew that he had once like it. After he brought the food, he went outside where a cool wind was blowing, and sat on the curb to eat. The first sip of the drink brought back so many memories. It tasted like home, like he was still in the United States, with his family and friends at a party. Like old times when everything had been simple and perfect. Times where there wasn't any grief, and there wasn't any hearing loss. Just a lot of joking and playing around. And getting mad at the simplest things, playing tricks on people, laughing freely, hot summers, sweet stickiness, bees that fly around sodas, and lots of happiness.

Something wet slid down his face. He took another sip, savoring the memories each gulp brought, tears streaming down his face even more. How he missed the old days.

* * *

bon appetite: mangez-le en haut mes petits lecteurs.

i'm sorry for not uploading in a while, a lot has happened but i'm not gonna make excuses. i made this chapter, extra long, and i promise to have the next one by the next weekend. I know how hard it is to read an on-going story so thanks guys for sticking with me, and i also want to say, i revise my stories almost daily. when i get a review that notifiyes me of a mistake, i correct it then repost the chapter, and while no major difference is put in, it flows a little better. so, how did i do with this chapter? i'd like to know


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